Enola Gay
Colonel Paul Tibbets waving from Enola Gay's cockpit before taking off for the bombing of Hiroshima[N 1])
Type Boeing B-29 Superfortress
Manufacturer Boeing Aircraft Company
Glenn L. Martin Company, Omaha, Nebraska
Manufactured 18 May 1945
Serial 44-86292
Radio code Victor 12 or 82
Owners and operators United States Army Air Forces
In service 18 May 1945 – 24 July 1946
Preserved at National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, mother of the pilot, then-Colonel (later Brigadier General) Paul Tibbets.[2] On 6 August 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb as a weapon of war. The bomb, code-named "Little Boy", was targeted at the city of Hiroshima, Japan, and caused extensive destruction.

The Enola Gay gained additional attention in 1995 when the cockpit and nose section of the aircraft were exhibited during the bombing's 50th anniversary at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution in downtown Washington, D.C. The exhibit was changed due to a controversy over original historical script displayed with the aircraft. Since 2003, the entire restored B-29 has been on display at NASM's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

Contents

World War II [link]

The Enola Gay (B-29-45-MO, AAF Serial Number 44-86292, Victor number 82) was built by the Glenn L. Martin Company (now Lockheed Martin) at its Bellevue, Nebraska, plant, at what is now known as Offutt Air Force Base, and was one of 15 B-29s with the "Silverplate" modifications necessary to deliver atomic weapons, which included an extensively modified bomb bay with pneumatic doors, special propellors, modified engines[3] and the deletion of protective armor and gun turrets. Enola Gay was personally selected by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., commander of the 509th Composite Group, on 9 May 1945, while still on the assembly line.[4]

The aircraft was accepted by the USAAF on 18 May 1945 and assigned to the 393d Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, 509th Composite Group.[5] Crew B-9 (Captain Robert A. Lewis, aircraft commander) took delivery of the bomber and flew it from Omaha to the 509th's base at Wendover Army Air Field, Utah on 14 June 1945. Thirteen days later, the aircraft left Wendover for Guam, where it received a bomb bay modification and flew to North Field, Tinian on 6 July. It was originally given the Victor (squadron-assigned identification) number "12," but on 1 August, was given the circle R tail markings of the 6th Bomb Group as a security measure and had its Victor changed to "82" to avoid misidentification with actual 6th BG aircraft. During July of that year, after the bomber flew eight training missions and two combat missions to drop pumpkin bombs on industrial targets at Kobe and Nagoya, Enola Gay was used on 31 July on a rehearsal flight for the actual mission. The partially assembled Little Boy combat weapon L-11 was contained inside a 41” x 47” x 138” wood crate weighing 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg) that was secured to the deck of the USS Indianapolis. Unlike the six U-235 target discs, which were later flown to Tinian on three separate aircraft arriving 28 and 29 July, the assembled projectile with the nine U-235 rings installed was shipped in a single lead-lined steel container weighing 300 pounds (140 kg) that was securely locked to brackets welded to the deck of Captain Charles McVay’s quarters. ([N 2]) Both the L-11 and projectile were dropped off at Tinian on 26 July 1945.[7]

Enola Gay after Hiroshima mission, entering hard-stand. It is in its 6th BG livery, victor number 82 visible on fuselage just forward of the tail fin.

On 5 August 1945, during preparation for the first atomic mission, pilot Colonel Paul Tibbets who assumed command of the aircraft, named the B-29 aircraft after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets (1893–1983), who had been named for the heroine of a novel ([N 3]). According to Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts,[9] regularly assigned aircraft commander Robert Lewis was unhappy to be displaced by Tibbets for this important mission, and became furious when he arrived at the aircraft on the morning of 6 August to see it painted with the now famous nose art.[10] Tibbets himself, interviewed on Tinian later that day by war correspondents, confessed that he was a bit embarrassed at having attached his mother's name to such a fateful mission.[11]

The Hiroshima mission was described by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts in their book, Enola Gay as tactically flawless. Enola Gay returned safely to its base on Tinian to great fanfare. The Enola Gay was accompanied by two other B-29s, Necessary Evil which was used to carry scientific observers, and as a camera plane to photograph the explosion and effects of the bomb and The Great Artiste instrumented for blast measurement.[12]

The first atomic bombing was followed three days later by another B-29 (Bockscar)[13] (piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney) which dropped a second nuclear weapon, "Fat Man", on Nagasaki. In contrast to the Hiroshima mission, the Nagasaki mission has been described as tactically botched, although the mission did meet its objectives. The crew encountered a number of problems in execution, and Bockscar had very little fuel by the time it landed on Okinawa.[14] On that mission, Enola Gay, flown by Crew B-10 (Capt. George Marquardt, aircraft commander, see Necessary Evil for crew details), was the weather reconnaissance aircraft for Kokura.

Mission personnel [link]

Bombardier Thomas Ferebee with the Norden Bombsight on Tinian after the dropping of Little Boy

Enola Gay's crew on 6 August 1945, consisted of 12 men.[15] Only three, Tibbetts, Ferebee, and Parsons, knew the purpose of the mission. Despite being veterans of many bombing raids, the gigantic explosion caused several crewmen to shout in horror and amazement "My God!"[16]

(Asterisks denote regular crewmen of the Enola Gay.)

Subsequent history [link]

File:Enola Gay Storage Smithsonian.jpg
Enola Gay in the Smithsonian storage facility at Suitland, 1987

On 6 November 1945, Lewis flew the Enola Gay back to the United States, arriving at the 509th's new base at Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico, on 8 November. On 29 April 1946, Enola Gay left Roswell as part of Operation Crossroads and flew to Kwajalein on 1 May. It was not chosen to make the test drop at Bikini Atoll and left Kwajalein on 1 July, the date of the test, and reached Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Field, California, the next day.

The decision was made to preserve the Enola Gay, and on 24 July 1946, the aircraft was flown to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, in preparation for storage. On 30 August 1946, the title to the aircraft was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution and the Enola Gay was removed from the USAAF inventory. From 1946 to 1961, the Enola Gay was put into temporary storage at a number of locations:

Restoration of the bomber began on 5 December 1984, at the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility in Suitland-Silver Hill, Maryland.

The propellers that were used on the bombing mission were later shipped to Texas A&M University. One of these propellers was trimmed to 12½ ft for use in the university's Oran W. Nicks Low Speed Wind Tunnel. The lightweight aluminum variable pitch propeller is powered by a 1,250 kVA electric motor providing a wind speed up to 200 mph.[18]

Restoration [link]

Exhibition controversy [link]

Under the cockpit window of the Enola Gay, while in storage 1987.

Enola Gay became the center of a controversy at the Smithsonian Institution when the museum planned to put its fuselage on public display in 1995 as part of an exhibit commemorating the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.[19] The exhibit, The Crossroads: The End of World War II, the Atomic Bomb and the Cold War, was drafted by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum staff, and arranged around the restored Enola Gay.[20][21]

Critics of the planned exhibit, especially those of the American Legion and the Air Force Association, charged that the exhibit focused too much attention on the Japanese casualties inflicted by the nuclear bomb, rather than on the motivations for the bombing or the discussion of the bomb's role in ending the World War II conflict with Japan.[22] The exhibit brought to national attention many long-standing academic and political issues related to retrospective views of the bombings. As a result, after various failed attempts to revise the exhibit in order to meet the satisfaction of competing interest groups, the exhibit was canceled on 30 January 1995.[23] Martin O. Harwit, Director of the National Air and Space Museum, was compelled to resign over the controversy.[24][25]

The forward fuselage did go on display on 28 June 1995. On 2 July 1995, three people were arrested for throwing ash and human blood on the aircraft's fuselage, following an earlier incident in which a protester had thrown red paint over the gallery's carpeting.[26]

On 18 May 1998, the fuselage was returned to the Garber Facility for final restoration.

Complete restoration and display [link]

Enola Gay in 2004 at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

Restoration work began in 1984, and would eventually require 300,000 staff hours. While the fuselage was on display, from 1995 to 1998, work continued on the remaining unrestored components. The aircraft was shipped in pieces to the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia from March–June 2003, with the fuselage and wings reunited for the first time since 1960 on 10 April 2003[3] and assembly completed on 8 August 2003. The aircraft is currently at Washington Dulles International Airport in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, since the museum annex opened on 15 December 2003.[27]

As a result of the earlier controversy, the signage around the aircraft provides only the same succinct technical data as is provided for other aircraft in the museum, without discussion of the controversial issues. The aircraft is shielded by various means to prevent a repetition of the vandalism that was attempted when it was first placed on display. A video analytics system was installed in 2005 and multiple surveillance cameras automatically generate an alarm when any person or object approaches the aircraft.

Media [link]

References [link]

Notes
  1. ^ In reality, Colonel Tibbets was waving the cameramen away from the engines, but they mistook this as a friendly gesture.[1]
  2. ^ The atomic bombs were euphemistically known as the "gadgets", a tag given to them by scientists at the Los Alamos test facility.[6]
  3. ^ Enola; or Her fatal mistake (1886), by Mary Young Ridenbaugh is the only novel of the period to use "Enola".[8]
  4. ^ Van Kirk is the sole surviving crew member, April 2010.
Citations
  1. ^ BBC Documentary Hiroshima
  2. ^ "Paul Tibbets Commanded Enola Gay, dropped first atomic bomb on Hiroshima." AcePilots.com. Retrieved: 19 December 2007.
  3. ^ a b March, Peter R. "Enola Gay Restored". Aircraft Illustrated, October 2003.
  4. ^ "Boeing B-29 Enola Gay Superfortress bomber, Aircraft history, facts and pictures." aviationexplorer.com. Retrieved: 4 August 2010.
  5. ^ Knaack, Marcelle Size. Post-World War II Bombers, 1945–1973. Washington: Office of Air Force History, 1988. ISBN 0-16-002260-6.
  6. ^ Hoddeson et al. 1993, p. 2.
  7. ^ Hoddeson et al. 1993, p. 258.
  8. ^ Ridenbaugh, Mary Young. Enola; or Her fatal mistake. St Louis, Missouri: Woodward & Tiernan, 1886.
  9. ^ Thomas 1977.
  10. ^ Campbell 2005, pp. 191–192.
  11. ^ Murphy, Charles J.V. "Carl Spaatz: A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress." Library of Congress. Retrieved: 4 August 2010.
  12. ^ Campbell 2005, p. 219.
  13. ^ "Boeing B-29 Superfortress." National Museum of the United States air Force. Retrieved: 3 August 2010.
  14. ^ Rossenfeld, Carrie. "The Story of Nagasaki: The Missions." hiroshima-remembered.com, 2005. Retrieved: 4 August 2010.
  15. ^ Cooper, Sgt. Jean. "Photo: P-574 (Enola Gay Crew Members)." mphpa.org. Retrieved: 3 August 2010.
  16. ^ Wickware, Francis Sill. "Manhattan Project: Its Scientists Have Harnessed Nature's Basic Force." Life, 20 August 1945. Retrieved: 25 November 2011, p. 91.
  17. ^ Polmar 2004, p. Appendix A.
  18. ^ "Enola Gay." Solarnavigator.net. Retrieved: 10 November 2009.
  19. ^ Sanger, David E. "Travel Advisory: Correspondent's Report; Enola Gay and Little Boy, Exactly 50 Years Later." The New York Times, 6 August 1995.
  20. ^ Gallagher, Edward. "History on Trial: The Enola Gay Controversy." Lehigh University. Retrieved: 3 August 2010.
  21. ^ Hogan, Michael J. Hiroshima in History and Memory. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN 978-0-521-56682-7.
  22. ^ "Enola Gay Archive: The Enola Gay and the Smithsonian." Air Force Association, 1996. Retrieved: 4 August 2010.
  23. ^ Dubin, Steven C. Displays of Power: Controversy in the American Museum from the Enola Gay to Sensation. New York: NYU Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8147-1890-2.
  24. ^ "Head of Air, Space Museum Quits Over Enola Gay Exhibit." Los Angeles Times, 3 May 1995.
  25. ^ Meyer, Eugene L. "Air and Space Museum Chief Resigns: Harwit Cites Furor Over A-Bomb Exhibit." The Washington Post, 3 May 1995.
  26. ^ Correll, John T., Editor in Chief. "Enola Gay Archive: Presenting the Enola Gay." Air Force Association, August 1995, p. 19. Retrieved: 8 August 2010.
  27. ^ "Boeing B-29 'Superfortress': Enola Gay." nasm.si.edu. Retrieved: 8 August 2010.
Bibliography
  • Bowers, Peter M. Boeing B-29 Superfortress. Stillwater, Minnesota: Voyageur Press, 1999. ISBN 0-933424-79-5.
  • Campbell, Richard H. The Silverplate Bombers: A History and Registry of the Enola Gay and Other B-29s Configured to Carry Atomic Bombs. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2005. ISBN 0-7864-2139-8.
  • Coster-Mullen, John. "Atom Bombs: The Top Secret Inside Story of Little Boy and Fat Man". Waukesha, Wisconsin: Self-Published, 2011.
  • Haggerty, Forrest. 43 Seconds to Hiroshima: The First Atomic Mission. An Autobiography of Richard H. Nelson, "Enola Gay" Radioman. Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse, 2005. ISBN 1-4208-4316-8.
  • Harwit, Martin. An Exhibit Denied: Lobbying the History of Enola Gay. New York: Copernicus, 1996. ISBN 0-387-94797-3.
  • Hess, William N. Great American Bombers of WW II. St. Paul, Minnesota: Motorbooks International, 1999. ISBN 0-7603-0650-8.
  • Hoddeson, Lillian, Paul W. Henriksen, Roger A. Meade and Catherine L. Westfall. Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943–1945. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1993. ISBN 978-0-521-44132-2.
  • Krauss, Robert and Amelia. The 509th Remembered: A History of the 509th Composite Group as Told by the Veterans Themselves, 509th Anniversary Reunion, Wichita, Kansas, 7–10 October 2004. Wichita, Kansas: 509th Press, 2005. ISBN 0-923568-66-2.
  • LeMay Curtis and Bill Yenne. Superfortress: The Boeing B-29 and American Airpower in World War II . London: Berkley Books, 1988. ISBN 0-425-11880-0.
  • Mann, Robert A. The B-29 Superfortress: A Comprehensive Registry of the Planes and Their Missions. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2004. ISBN 0-7864-1787-0.
  • Marx, Joseph L. Seven Hours to Zero. New York: G.P. Putnam Son's, 1967.
  • Newman, Robert P. Enola Gay and the Court of History. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0-8204-7457-6.
  • O'Reilly, Charles T. and William A. Rooney. Enola Gay and the Smithsonian Institution. New York: McFarland & Company, 2005. ISBN 0-7864-2008-1.
  • Pace, Steve. Boeing B-29 Superfortress. Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire, United Kingdom: Crowood Press, 2003. ISBN 1-86126-581-6.
  • Polmar, Norman. The Enola Gay: The B-29 that Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. Dulles, Virginia: Brassey's, 2004. ISBN 1-57488-859-5.
  • Rhodes, Richard. The Making of the Atomic Bomb. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986. ISBN 0-684-81378-5.
  • Thomas, Gordon and Max Morgan Witts. Enola Gay. New York: Stein & Day Publishing, 1977. ISBN 0-8128-2150-5.
    • republished 1995 by Dalton Watson as Enola Gay: Mission to Hiroshima. ISBN 1-85443-127-7.
    • republished 2006 by Konecky & Konecky as Enola Gay: The Bombing of Hiroshima. ISBN 1-56852-597-4.
  • Thomas, Gordon and Max Morgan Witts. Ruin from the Air: The Enola Gay's Atomic Mission to Hiroshima. London: Hamilton, 1977 (republished in 1990 by Scarborough House, ISBN 0-8128-8509-0).
  • Tibbets, Paul W. Flight of the Enola Gay. Reynoldsburg, Ohio: Buckeye Aviation Book Company, 1989. ISBN 0-942397-11-8.
  • Wheeler, Keith. Bombers over Japan. Virginia Beach, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1982. ISBN 0-8094-3429-6.

External links [link]

Coordinates: 38°54′39″N 77°26′39″W / 38.9108°N 77.4442°W / 38.9108; -77.4442


https://wn.com/Enola_Gay

Enola Gay (song)

"Enola Gay" is an anti-war song by the British synthpop group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD). It was the only single from the band's 1980 album, Organisation.

Written by Andy McCluskey, it addresses the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, during the final stages of World War II, and directly mentions three components of the attack: the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, which dropped the nuclear weapon Little Boy on Hiroshima at "8:15".

"Enola Gay" has come to be regarded as one of the great pop songs. Critic Ned Raggett in AllMusic lauded the track as "astounding...a flat-out pop classic – clever, heartfelt, thrilling, and confident, not to mention catchy and arranged brilliantly"; colleague Dave Thompson called it a "perfect synth-dance-pop extravaganza." It featured in MusicRadar's "The 40 Greatest Synth Tracks Ever" in 2009, who noted that the song "includes some of the biggest synth hooks of all time." In 2012, NME listed the track among the "100 Best Songs of the 1980s", describing McCluskey's vocal as "brilliantly quizzical" and the song as a "pop classic". It was selected by the BBC for use during the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Podcasts:

Enola Gay

ALBUMS

Enola Gay

ALBUMS

Enola Gay

ALBUMS

PLAYLIST TIME:

Enola Gay

by: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

Enola Gay
You should have stayed at home yesterday
Oh, it can't describe
The feeling and the way you lied
These games you play
They're gonna end it all in tears someday
Oh, Enola Gay
It shouldn't ever have to end this way
It's 8:15
Well, that's the time that it's always been
We got your message on the radio
Condition's normal and you're coming home
Enola Gay
Is mother proud of little boy today?
Oh, this kiss you give
It's never ever gonna fade away
Enola Gay
It shouldn't ever have to end this way
Oh, Enola Gay
It should've faded our dreams away
It's 8:15
Well, that's the time that it's always been
We got your message on the radio
Condition's normal and you're coming home
Enola Gay
Is mother proud of little boy today?
Oh, this kiss you give




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